Fertility: Prepare your body for pregnancy.
11 sections, about 18 minutes in total
~85%
About 85 percent of couples conceive within a year of trying (ASRM).
6 days
The fertile window is 6 days each cycle (Wilcox, NEJM).
400 mcg
The recommendation is 400 mcg of folic acid daily, ideally from ≥1 month before trying (CDC).
Before anything else
Start with a self-check.
Answer each one and watch the radar redraw. When all five are in, it names your two focus areas.
1/5How regular is your cycle?
2/5PCOS, insulin resistance, or hypothyroidism?
3/5Strength training right now?
4/5How consistent is your sleep window?
5/5How high is your stress right now?
Your profile
0/5 answered
This self-check is an educational tool, inspired by published fertility-awareness research (like the Cardiff fertility-awareness work). It is not a medical assessment, not a diagnosis, and not a prediction of whether you will conceive. It is not affiliated with or derived from any named clinical instrument. If an answer worries you, get it checked.
How common claims hold up
What helps you prepare to conceive.
Tap each one and make your call before the verdict shows. Only a couple of these have solid evidence behind them.
Tap a promise from the label or the ad:
Pick a claim, make your call, then see what the trials actually found.
Verdicts summarize the cited research and will change if the research does. This is preparation coaching, not a promise about conception.
When conception is possible
The four stages of your fertile window.
Click through each stage to see what happens in it and when conception is possible.
Tap a step to open it. Each one carries the detail.
The takeaway
If you are just starting out, spend two to three cycles learning your own fertile window. You can do this before or while trying. Timing sex to your fertile window has more evidence behind it than any supplement, and it costs nothing.
Apply it to your cycle
Now draw your own window.
Set your average cycle length to see your estimated fertile days. Then turn on the irregular setting to see what happens when cycle length varies.
Your average cycle length
The classic rule that ovulation happens about 14 days before your next period is a rough average. Your fertile window is the roughly six days ending on ovulation (Wilcox, 1995). The second half of the cycle varies from person to person and cycle to cycle, so a calendar date is only an estimate. Body signs like cervical mucus and LH test strips make it more accurate.
This is an educational estimate. Do not use it as birth control, and it cannot guarantee conception. Your own body signs and a medical assessment are more reliable than any calendar.
Work with the cycle
The four phases of your cycle.
Tap each phase to see what your hormones are doing and how to adjust training, food and recovery during it.
- Fertility
- Your body is preparing an egg. The fertile window usually opens in the last days of this phase, so this is when to start paying attention.
- Training
- Estrogen is rising and energy is usually high. This is the best time to push harder and add weight in training.
- Nutrition
- Eat more carbs around training and spread your protein across the day.
- Recovery
- Normal recovery is enough. Your body handles hard training best in this phase.
A 28-day wheel is the textbook example, not a rule. Phase lengths vary from woman to woman, so your own tracked pattern is more accurate. The wheel colors are chosen for readability (checked for color-blind accessibility), not to show importance.
How eggs mature
The final three months matter most.
Drag through the 90 days before ovulation to see what happens at each stage and which stages your habits can realistically affect.
Days 30–60 · Optimization
Follicles start responding to your habits.
Follicles are now actively responding to your hormonal environment. Training and nutrition matched to your cycle support the signals your body sends them.
- Training matched to your cycle
- Nutrient-rich meals with enough protein
- Meals and training that support insulin sensitivity
Egg development takes far longer than 90 days overall. This clock covers only the final maturation window, the part research suggests lifestyle can plausibly reach. It is a preparation frame, not a fertility guarantee.
Work back from your date
How much runway do you have?
Slide to when you want to start trying or start treatment. The plan below adjusts to the time you have.
When do you want to be trying, or starting treatment?
8months
Enough time for all three phases: foundation, optimization, and a full 90-day maturation window before you start trying or book a retrieval.
- Weeks 1–8Foundation
- Weeks 9–18Optimization
- Weeks 19–24Quality window
- 24 weeks in total
The more preparation time you have, the better. But starting late still helps, and preparation should not delay getting checked when the timelines below say it is time.
The numbers to track
Eight lab markers make preparation measurable.
Tap each one to see what it is, why it matters before pregnancy, and how (or whether) a program moves it.
HOMA-IR Insulin resistance
- What it is
- How hard your body works to keep blood sugar stable. There is no single agreed cutoff, so labs and studies use different ones and it is read in context.
- Why it matters here
- For many women with PCOS, insulin resistance is a major metabolic driver. It amplifies androgen production and can disrupt the signals that trigger ovulation.
- How we move it
- Strength training, enough protein, and meals that keep blood sugar steady. Lifestyle is the first-line support for PCOS (2023 International Guideline).
Your clinician orders this test and reads the result against your history. There is no single healthy number to aim for on your own.
Ranges come from the cited guidelines. Your own results are read against those ranges, and any preconception thyroid target is a medical decision.
The habits that help
What the evidence supports.
These six habits are backed by real guidance. Toggle the ones you would commit to and see their combined impact.
Your total score
9/ 41
Start with folic acid. It has the strongest guideline support of anything on this list.
The score is for illustration, not a clinical measure. Check before taking supplements beyond folic acid. Avoid crash diets, because both very low and very high body weight can disrupt ovulation.
What you can control
What preparation can't promise.
Side by side: the things coaching can work on, and the things no program can change.
How coaching can help
- Regular ovulation support. Steady meals, sleep, stress control and training all help your cycle run normally
- Knowing your own fertile window. Tracking your cycle beats generic calendar estimates
- Folic acid started early. 400 mcg daily from at least a month before trying (CDC)
- Fitness going into pregnancy. The strength and habits you build now carry you through it
- Stopping alcohol and smoking. Both are linked with lower fertility, and the effect eases when you stop
Not in anyone's control
- Conception itself. Even a perfectly timed month gives healthy young couples roughly a one-in-four chance
- How long it takes. Needing several months is normal, not a sign something is wrong
- Age-related change. It is biology, not failure, and no product or protocol reverses it
- Medical conditions. PCOS, thyroid disease or blocked tubes need a doctor, not a habit plan
- Anything a product promises. No food, supplement or program can boost fertility on demand
No program can change the second column. That is why the referral timelines in the next section matter, so you get medical help on time.
How long to try
When to get a referral.
These are the standard referral timelines. Knowing them saves months.
If you are under 35, see a fertility specialist after 12 months of trying without conceiving (ASRM).
If you are 35 or older, see one after 6 months of trying. Fertility declines faster with age, so evaluation starts earlier.
See one right away, at any age, if your periods are missing or very irregular, or you have a diagnosed condition like PCOS, endometriosis or thyroid disease.
Also see one right away if you have had a pelvic infection, pelvic surgery, or two or more miscarriages. In these cases waiting longer does not help. Investigation should come first.
A referral is just a way to get answers. It does not mean you have to start treatment, and the earlier you have answers, the more options you have.